Parliament sends back office of profits bill for presidential assent

New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) In a land mark decision in Parliamentary history, the Parliament has send back without any change for President's assent, the controversial Office of Profits Bill which the President had returned once for reconsideration.

The Bill was sent to the President for his assent by the Lok Sabha Secretariat as it was the last House in the Parlaiment to pass the Bill after Rajya Sabha did it, informed sources said.

The Bill which was passed amid stiff resistance from the BJP benches because it was for the first time that the President had invoked Article 111 of the Constitution and returned a bill to the Parliament for reconsideration.

The Constitutional provision is clear the President shall give his assent after the Parliament sends him back the returned Bill.

The Bill exempts 56 posts including the National Advisory Council (NAC) and offers immunity for over 40 MPs facing the prospects of being disqualified with retrospective effect for occupying offices of profit.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has shed several posts including the Chairmanship of NAC and her Raebareli Lok Sabha seat after the Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan was disqualified from her Rajya Sabha seat for heading the UP Film Development Corporation, an office of profit.

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